


elephants run you down

by viscrael



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Five Plus One, Fluff, M/M, Pre-Slash, can u tell i like those 5+1 things, second-years
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-16
Updated: 2015-09-16
Packaged: 2018-04-21 01:26:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,362
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4809635
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/viscrael/pseuds/viscrael
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Five times Hinata confuses Kageyama and one time Kageyama confuses Hinata.</p>
            </blockquote>





	elephants run you down

**Author's Note:**

> its 12:25 am this is 100% UNEDITED AF pls excused typos. im gonna go and fix them in the morning once im like. awake. and well rested. and nOt abt to pass out lmao 
> 
> title from animal arithmetic by jonsi (the title name has like nothing to do w/ the story i just thought it sounded cool lmao)

The first time Hinata does it, it’s over the phone.

When he’d gotten home, the two of them had been texting, but something or another led to taking the conversation to a call (“Okay, so, I know you don’t like talking on the phone, but there was this _really_ cool thing I had to tell you—“), and Hinata had been excitedly chattering about whatever caught his interest for maybe an hour, neither having realized just how late it was.

“What time is it?” Hinata asks during a lull in conversation, stifling a yawn. Kageyama shrugs before realizing that he can’t see the movement over the phone, and goes to check his clock on his bedside table. When he sees it, he can’t help but curse.

“What? Is it really that late?” Hinata asks.

“Jesus Christ, _yes_. How did you even manage to talk for that long?”

“Well, what time is it, stupid?”

“Almost midnight.”

Hinata curses too. “We have early practice in the morning.”

“Yeah,” Kageyama sighs into the phone. They’re both quiet for a moment. When there’s another yawn from across the line, Kageyama rolls his eyes and huffs quietly into the speaker. “Go to bed, dumbass.”

“I’m not tired.”

“Don’t act like a five-year-old. Obviously you are, and you need sleep tomorrow anyway. I can’t have a useless decoy.”

He can imagine Hinata must’ve stuck his tongue out before realizing it’s lost over the phone, because there’s silence for a moment before he hears, “ _You_ ’re the one acting like a five-year-old, Bakageyama.”

Kageyama wrinkles his nose. “How am _I_ doing that, stupid?” He sighs exasperatedly. “God, just go to sleep. You’ll wake Natsu up if you keep talking so loud anyway.”

“Natsu’s sleepin’ over at her friends house tonight.” There’s a triumphant grin implied in his voice.

“ _Go to sleep_.”

Hinata hums, seeming to think about the command for a second before there’s the sound of shuffling, and he says, finally relenting, “Yeah, okay. ‘Night, Kageyama.”

“’Night,” he grumbles, already beginning to hang up.

“Don’t be late!” There’s that smile in Hinata’s voice again, that annoyingly smug one he makes whenever he knows he’s won this time, and Kageyama hangs up to keep himself from responding with something embarrassing.

 

\--

 

The second time Hinata does it, it’s after Kageyama has successfully managed to get a concussion.

How, he isn’t entirely sure. One minute he’d been playing fine, suddenly he’s on the gym floor, lights too bright and voices somehow too loud and too fuzzy all at once. He blinks blearily, vision starting to clear to make sense of the shapes in front of him, and he recognizes one as Ennoshita, face scrunched up in worry.

“What?” he tries to ask, because everything is too loud and there are too many voices and he can’t make sense of any of them, but his voice comes out croaky and pathetic. He tries to clear his throat, and finds he can’t, throat dry and stuffed with cotton.

Ennoshita helps him sit up, and he finds that his head hurts worse than he’s ever had the displeasure of experiencing, like someone used the back of his head for dart practice. He hisses and shuts his eyes quickly, head throbbing even more when he has question after question thrown at him, but when he’s able to open his eyes again he makes out Hinata’s face.

“What…?” he starts to ask, because no one has explained what happened and he’s starting to get frustrated. Still, everyone keeps asking him questions, like what the date is, what’s your name, what’s the year, what class are you in.

Hinata seems to be the only one who understands why he’s so confused, because he explains, probably a little overenthusiastically, “You got hit with a volleyball. _Really_ hard.”

Kageyama blinks. “Fantastic,” he thinks he mumbles, although he can’t really be sure if he said it out loud or not, before barking out a complaint about why are the lights so bright, dammit, and the others finally give up asking him questions.

Ukai suggests that someone take him to the nurse, and Tanaka offers at first, because apparently he had something to do with the injury or something (Kageyama is having a hard time paying any attention to the conversation with the lights still hurting like hell), but Hinata says it’s fine, he’ll do it.

And that’s that, evidently, because then Kageyama is being helped to his feet and he’s leaning against a small body, and even though his eyes are squeezed shut, he assumes it’s Hinata. They limp out of the gym and to the school nurse awkwardly, Kageyama cursing under his breath the whole time, but Hinata stays oddly quiet, but Kageyama thinks conversation would make his head even worse, so he doesn’t complain about the uncharacteristic silence.

They get there and find that Kageyama does, indeed, have a concussion, and he should stay here until his parents can come get him. The nurse tells Hinata that he can return to practice if he wants to, and after a few minutes, he does.

“Try to get better soon,” he tells Kageyama, a little awkwardly, when she’s left to the other room for a moment, and therefore isn’t there to overhear them. “I need you to play, so…get better soon.”

He leaves then, and Kageyama is left wishing his head didn’t suddenly hurt so much worse.

 

\--

 

The third time Hinata does it, they’re at lunch, eating together like they have been for the past few weeks. This is a new thing, sort of, and it’s only really because once they’d fallen into a pattern of practicing once they were both done eating, it only made sense for them to eat together instead of wasting time running around trying to find one another. Kageyama doesn’t mind. He would’ve just been eating alone anyway.

The downside is that he’s, well, with Hinata, which isn’t _inherently_ bad, except that Hinata is horrible at both personal space and sharing food—specifically, Kageyama’s food. Every time he sees fit, Hinata will reach over and take something of his, stuffing it in his mouth before Kageyama can take it back.

“Oi!” Kageyama hits him upside the head, glaring. Hinata swallows and sticks his tongue out childishly, looking entirely too please with himself.

That dumb self-satisfied look only makes Kageyama glare more. “Don’t just _take_ my food without even asking!”

“Well, what was I supposed to do?”

“ _Ask_ at least!”

“What, just say, ‘Hey, Bakageyama, can I have some of your food?’” He gives him a look. “You would’ve said no anyway.”

“Yeah, _now_ I’m gonna say no.”

Hinata blinks and then gasps. “You mean you would’ve said yes if I’d asked?!”

“Don’t look so surprised.” Kageyama looks away irritably, resting his chin on his hand, elbow on his knee and making sure to keep his lunch away from the other.

“So…” Hinata grins, looking hopeful. “Hey, Bakageyama, can I have some of your food?”

“Hell no.”

He gapes. “Whaaaaat? You just said I could!”

“Yeah, if you had asked _originally_. Now you’ve already taken some, so no.”

“C’mooooooon.”

“No.”

“Pleeeeaaase!”

“I already said no!”

He glares, bottom lip sticking out in what is undeniably a pout, regardless of whether or not he’s aware he’s doing it.

Kageyama stares at him for what feels like a long moment, watching the jut of his lip ( _Cute,_ he thinks, but since when has he thought of Hinata in terms of words like _that_?), before he’s shaken out of whatever the hell that was with Hinata’s offended, “That was just mean, Kageyama.”

“Maybe next time you’ll ask before you take some,” Kageyama responds, sniffing indignantly in an attempt of hiding the blush creeping up on his cheeks at almost being caught. He shovels more food into his mouth, trying to ignore the uncomfortable tickle at the back of his brain.

 

\--

 

The fourth time Hinata does it, it’s snowing.

Winter break has just started and neither of their families are doing anything just yet, so it only makes sense that they would continue with the pattern that they have the rest of the year: going over to Kageyama’s house and hanging out and bickering and practicing volleyball.

Except they can’t practice with the weather as cold as it is, so they end up sitting in Kageyama’s bed room, watching some action movie that makes approximately zero sense to Kageyama’s restless head. He’s too busy thinking about how they _should_ be playing volleyball, they _should_ be practicing, but he went out earlier and nearly froze his damn hands off trying to set for Hinata. They gave up, of course, and now they’re sipping hot tea, huddled around a small laptop screen to watch something that Kageyama quite honestly doesn’t think he could care less about.

Not to say that he doesn’t like being with Hinata, because, as reluctant as he used to be to admit it—he can easily say now that, yeah, he likes hanging out with the boy, and he’s maybe what Kageyama would consider his closest friend (that, however, he’s still a little hesitant to admit). And the movie is interesting enough, probably, or at least it is to Hinata’s dazzled eyes. That much he can gather from the overly dramatic reactions to plot twists and reveals that the other boy emits every now and then.

But he’s itching to move. He’s got so much pent up energy today, and he doesn’t know _why_ ; he’s not angry about anything, and he doesn’t think he’s been all that anxious lately, but his hands are tapping against his leg like they’re urging him on to get up already, and Hinata has to tell him twice to calm his bouncing leg.

The movie ends, and he’s still fidgeting. Hinata swallows another mouthful of popcorn and frowns.

“Are you okay?”

Kageyama nods, trying to look nonchalant and probably failing miserably. “Yeah. Why?”

“You’re really, like, _fidgety_ today—which is weird for you, since I’m usually the one who’s fussed at for bouncing around and stuff.”

He shrugs. “I’m fine.”

Hinata ignores the assurance and thinks about it some more, tapping a finger against his chin. “Is it ‘cause we didn’t get to play today?”

Reluctantly, he nods, but before he can get any reassurances out, Hinata’s eyes drift to something behind him, and suddenly he’s gasping and bounding off the bed to the window.

“Look, Kageyama, it’s snowing!” he says, big, brown eyes all wide like a little kid who’s not used to the world yet (and that’s not too far off from the truth, Kageyama thinks; Hinata still gets so excited about little things, still has so much room in his heart and head to be happy about the mundane).

Kageyama pulls himself off the bed and stands next to the other to stare outside, glad for a distraction. Soft white spots flitter down, but as they watch, the snow gets heavier, until it’s not just flurries, but the beginning of white sheets on their driveway.

Hinata turns to him mischievously. “Bet I could kick your butt in a snow fight.”

He narrows his eyes at the challenge. “Could not.”

“Only one way to find out.” He grins. “Race you outside!”

They come rushing down the stairs, grabbing coats and boots and scarves to put on at the door, and Kageyama’s mother fusses at them for being reckless, but tells them to have fun and be careful all the same.

(In the end, they tie, and while they bicker on who _really_ won as they’re coming back inside, Hinata leans on him when they collapse on the couch in a tired heap, and his hair tickles Kageyama’s cheek, and his breath is warm and oddly comforting, and when he falls asleep, Kageyama convinces himself the only reason he let it happen was because he’s tired himself. If his mom notices the blush on his cheeks from something other than the cold, she doesn’t say anything.)

 

\--

 

The fifth time Hinata does it, they’re in the locker room, yelling at each other genuinely for the first time since their first year.

He’s just—he’s had a _horrible_ day, and Hinata has been antagonizing him all practice, and not friendly antagonizing either; it’s not just little bickering and exchanges, it’s not what they usually do. It’s honest to god insults with the intent of hurting him, and Kageyama snaps at the very end of practice, as they’re in the locker room getting changed. The last of the first years are filtering out, and Ennoshita is still in the gym, but he doesn’t worry too much about their senpai finding them as much as he worries about the fact that this is the _most_ out of character he’s ever seen Hinata act, ever, and it’s _unsettling_.

So eventaully he breaks, and he barks something about _just leave it alone_ , and Hinata mumbles _what crawled up your ass and died_ , and Kageyama snaps, _what’s even your problem?_

And Hinata clenches his fists and slams his locker shut and grumbles something like _it’s nothing_ and other words Kageyama can’t hear, but that’s the biggest load of bull he’s heard all semester, so he grabs Hinata’s arm as he passes on his way to leave the room.

“What the fuck is up with you today?” His eyebrows furrow. Hinata tugs away, but his grip doesn’t loosen. “No. Tell me what’s wrong.”

“It’s _nothing_ ,” he insists.

“Bullshit it’s not.”

Hinata glares, yanks his arm away harshly, and Kageyama lets him this time. “Nothing you’d care about. You…”

The falter is only for a moment, but Kageyama catches it. “I, what?”

“Forget it.”

“Hinata.”

“Forget it!” It’s a yell this time, and it might sound convincingly angry if not for the crack in his voice on the second syllable.

Before Kageyama can get anything else out, Hinata is scooping his bag up and all but bolting away.

Hinata left his school shoes on accident. Kageyama’s head hurts.

 

\--

 

“Kageyama-kun?”

It’s Natsu who answers the door, peaking out curiously, her little orange curls just barely reaching the doorknob. He stiffens at the sight, because he’s still not entirely sure just how to act around children, let alone Hinata’s baby sister, but she seems to like him enough. She smiles widely at him.

“Are you comin’ to see Onii-chan?”

He nods, a little stiff. “Yes. He left something at school, so I came to give it back.” He peers inside the house with some naïve hope that the boy in question will just be there, to no avail. His mother notices him at the door, though, and comes to greet him.

“Kageyama!” She smiles. “Are you here to see Shouyou?”

He nods. She shoos Natsu away (who pouts, but reluctantly leaves, with a little wave to Kageyama on her way) and opens the door all the way for him to enter. He slips his shoes off and bows. Hinata’s parents are nice enough, and he thinks his people skills have gotten better since first year, but he’s still a little awkward around adults, especially parents (especially parents of someone like Hinata, he thinks fleetingly, but he’s not really sure what _people like Hinata_ even really means, so he pushes the thought away in confusion).

“He’s up in his room,” she says, looking just a little worried. “Do you know how he’s been?”

“What do you mean?”

“He seemed to be upset when he came home,” she explains. “He went straight to his room.”

Kageyama nods, and she pats his shoulder politely. “See if you can talk to him, alright?”

“Alright.” He shuffles up the stairs with an awkward attempt at a smile, ending up as more of a grimace, and when he knocks on his friend’s door, he’s met with silence for a good few moments.

Then, muffled: “Natsu, I said I can’t play right now!”

“It’s not Natsu.”

A pause, achingly long, before the door flings open and Hinata stands, eyes just a little bit red like he had been crying and was doing an awful job of trying to hide it. “What’re you _doing_ here?!”

“You left your shoes in the gym.” He holds the bag up helpfully.

Hinata blinks, looking confused, before realization dawns on him and his cheeks turn red. He rubs his eyes like he’s exasperated of something. “Of _course._ ”

Kageyama hands him the shoes and stands at the door for another couple of moments expectantly. “Thanks,” the redhead mumbles, sounding like he doesn’t really want to be saying thanks at all.

“Are you going to tell me what’s up now or are you going to keep being ridiculous and hole yourself up?”

He looks down guiltily. “It’s not that big of deal.”

“It is. You’ve been acting weird all day, provoking me and—“ Kageyama frowns. “You’re worrying people.”

“What people?”

It sounds sarcastic, but he answers anyway. “Your mom. Me. Ennoshita told me to check on you. I’m sure Tanaka and Nishinoya noticed it, even if they didn’t say anything. Yachi, too, probably.”

“So you’re just here because the captain sent you.” The assumed observation sounds more than just a little bitter.

Kageyama frowns. “What? No, where the hell did you get that?”

He blinks, confused. “You just said—“

“Did listing _myself,_ on the list not make it clear enough to you, dumbass? I was worried too!” _Probably the most_ , he thinks but doesn’t add, even if it feels true.

“I worried you?”

“That’s what I just said, stupid.” He huffs, suddenly feeling embarrassed about admitting it, unlike how he’d been a moment before. The fact that Hinata is so surprised is making him self-conscious of the fact. “Just tell me what’s going on with you.”

Hinata looks down. “Nothing is—“

Kageyama glares, and he starts over.

“Really, nothing that big is going on! I’m just…I don’t know, I’m stressed out, I guess?” He sighs, like thinking about it only makes him more frustrated about the situation. “I don’t know! I’m just worried about—about _stuff_!”

“About what?” What’s there to be worried about with _Hinata_? He hardly ever worries about anything, it seems.

“Nothing! Everything! I don’t know!”

The sounds of footsteps up the stairs forces Kageyama to step into Hinata’s room and close the door behind him with a soft click, for full privacy. If someone interrupted them now, he doesn’t think he’d get to coax Hinata back to telling him for a while.

“You’re stressed out,” Kageyama summarizes.

“Yes. _Really_ stressed out.”

“And you don’t have any idea about what?”

“I mean—“ He frowns. “School, I guess? I mean. My grades aren’t—they’re not _usually_ that great anyway, but recently they’ve been…lots worse. And the _team_ , and next year, you know, we’re going to be _third years_ —“ He shuts himself off after a moment.

Their second year is coming to a close, Kageyama’s aware of it too, but he hadn’t realized it would be something stressful—especially not to Hinata.

He debates, for a long, silent moment, just how to go about offering comfort. He’s not good at situations like this, and he’s not really good at words, really, but he feels an obligation as Hinata’s friend to offer some form of advice or comfort or solace or _anything_.

In the end, he settles with looking away and shoving hands into his pockets. “You don’t have to deal with stuff on your own, you know. I’m a second year two, I’ve got the same grades as you, I know what that’s all like, so if you’re upset or worried about something I’ll—I’ll get it. You don’t have to hide stuff from me.” He coughs at the end.

Hinata stares at him for a good moment, and the weight of that gaze forces his eyes to the other, and he snaps defensively, “What?!” at the look he receives. “What are you staring at me like that for?!”

“You can be so cool sometimes,” Hinata says, casually, like it’s a compliment the two exchange daily, and he grins, cheeks pink.

“Sh-shut up! It wasn’t _cool_ , it was just…”

“Kageyama.”

He stops babbling to look at the other.

Hinata grins. “You’re blushing.”

“Fuck off!”


End file.
